A broken leg halted his football career. Now, he’s signed on to play at a D-1 school.
Tylik Edwards remembers the play that changed his life.
More than a year and a half after he ended up on his back, his left leg broken above the ankle, Edwards still remembers it step by step.
The defensive back recalled the story earlier this month in front of a sea of his Rock Hill High School football teammates, as he wore faded light blue jeans and an East Tennessee State hat and hoodie and signed his National Letter of Intent with the Buccaneers.
His broken leg almost defined his high school football career and jeopardized his chance to play college football. And it happened at what seemed like the least opportune time — in the weeks leading up to a promising junior season, when Edwards was playing some of the best football of his life.
After a year on the varsity team as a sophomore, Edwards was exactly what coach Bubba Pittman needed him to be. He was becoming a dangerous punt returner. And he was growing into “the quarterback of our secondary,” as Pittman later said, being the kind of leader who was loose and sang and rapped in the locker room before games, but also focused enough to command respect from his peers.
On Aug. 3, 2018, the day he broke his leg, in fact Edwards intercepted an errant pass in a scrimmage against Greenwood and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown.
“My junior season, going through the summer,” Edwards recalled, shaking his head with a smile, “I was balling out.”
But then, two drives after his interception, he was on the ground hurt. Edwards remembers not hearing the play call at first. He remembers chasing down his opposing receiver, who was running a fade into the back corner of the end zone. He remembers seeing the ball in the air as it came his way. And he remembers batting the ball down with one hand and landing unevenly on his left leg.
When he tried to lift himself up, he remembers that he couldn’t move his left leg.
“I laid there and rolled over,” Edwards said. “My leg just flopped over. I never had a serious injury, so I didn’t think it was that serious. I actually tried to sit up and see if I could get up, but I couldn’t. So I just laid there.”
And as he laid on the field, his goal of playing college football — the one he’s about to fulfill — seemed so far away.
“In the beginning, I was like, ‘He’ll never make it back,’” Pittman said.
“But he wasn’t gonna be denied.”
Recovering from surgery
Before his junior season, Edwards had surgery to repair his broken leg. For the first few weeks after that, all Edwards could do with the team was watch practice. A few weeks later, he started working with the team’s trainer and limped up and down the sideline before slowly being able to jog and run.
“It was a devastating injury, not only for him, but for our program,” Pittman said. “But the beautiful thing about it was the effort that he gave to get back. I don’t think he missed a day of practice once he was out of the hospital.”
Edwards’ injury prevented him from producing junior-year film to market himself to college coaches. He also missed being a part of the 2018 Bearcats team that went 8-3 overall and 4-0 in the region, and defeated South Pointe for the first time since 2009.
“I mean, I was there, but they beat South Pointe, and I wish I was (playing) as part of that team,” Edwards said. “That South Pointe game probably hurt the most.”
After two more months of rehab, Edwards was healthy enough to rejoin the team for Rock Hill’s final regular season game against Northwestern.
“We made him play JV,” Pittman said. “He didn’t like it, but we wanted to get his feet wet a little bit...
“For him to get back for the Northwestern game and then for the two playoff games was unbelievable. And then he rolled out there onto the basketball court and played an entire basketball season, just like it never happened.”
Tylik Edwards playing like one of the best
Edwards and Pittman had several discussions about what they wanted Edwards to achieve by the end of his senior season. And football was in Edwards’ future after high school, as he saw it.
“We talked about how important his first four games of his senior season would be,” Pittman said.
In those first four games, Edwards played like one of the best cornerbacks in the state. In his first game, against South Carolina powerhouse Sumter, he made three tackles; caught two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown; had a fumble recovery; and notched two pass breakups.
He also showed how gifted he was as a returner early in the season. Against South Pointe, his team’s second game of the season, he returned a kickoff for a touchdown — one of three returning touchdowns his senior year.
“My favorite punt return was against Nation Ford, the fourth play of the game,” Edwards said with a smile. “I caught the ball. They were literally like three yards away from me. I hit them with two moves, and I was off to the races.”
The accolades flowed in from there. Edwards was a Shrine Bowl selection — impressive for someone who didn’t play as a junior. He was named the Tri-County Special Teams Player of the Year and was a first-team All-Herald defensive back selection.
“I came out and played my heart out,” Edwards said.
An offer from East Tennessee State
Edwards received a lot of attention from junior colleges and FCS schools as a senior. His first offer was from Mercer on Oct. 31. A month later, he got an offer from North Greenville University.
East Tennessee State was his fifth offer. He announced his commitment to the school earlier this month and signed with the school on National Signing Day on Feb. 5.
“We’re really going to miss his leadership,” Pittman said. “His athletic ability is outstanding. But I think next year, when we get out there, we’ll be looking for that leadership.”
Edwards told the media on signing day that he chose ETSU because of the program’s impressive athletic facilities and his positive relationship with the coaching staff.
When asked, he also talked about his broken leg. He said it motivated his special senior season. But it did more than that.
The injury defined his high school football career as one of resilience — after he worked so hard not to be defined by it at all.
This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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